Monday, November 21, 2005

PS.

I did my shadowing last weekend. It was great. I'm too tired to go into detail now, but it definitely reaffirmed my decision. I still want to shadow in the NICU, but that will come later. Maybe I'll give more detail later. Maybe not. This blog isn't turning out to be as detailed as I'd hoped, but c'est la vie.

Application submitted

Well, I did it. Payed my $$ and submitted my app to Binghamton University. Now I have to write a personal statement :) I've been mulling it over in my head for many days now. Maybe I'll try to get it on paper soon. I wonder how long it takes before I hear back from them. When I spoke to the woman there she said she was almost done reviewing Spring semester apps and would then move on to the fall semester ones. Silly me didn't think to ask for an ETA on that. Oh well. Patience, patience...

Wednesday, November 16, 2005

Sometimes you gotta give up to get what you want

That's the lesson for today. I have been trying to pin down the hospital woman for weeks now trying to finalize plans for shadowing this weekend. Believe it or not I have a very busy social schedule this weekend and it was all hinging on a response back from here. Today I got frusterated and gave up. I sent her an email saying that I was no longer available this weekend, and I sent out several other emails to confirm weekend plans with friends. About an hour later I got a message back from her saying that they want me to come in from 9am-12pm on Saturday. Yay!! I wrote back immediately saying "I can do that!" (I'm so eager for this) and I asked for the details (where to go, who to see, etc.).... then I waited all day for a response. The suspense was killing me! I'm so impatient. Finally I got a message back at 6pm confirmating location and all. Now I know enough to do it. I'm psyched!!

I'm also moving forward on the school search. It's a pretty limited search really, basically I'm trying to decided between a Masters degree from UNH or a Bachelors from SUNY Binghamton. Right now I'm leaning towards a bachelors. It would be less expensive, less intense (the MSN program has 26-credit semesters!!), and I'd be out of school and earning a living again a year sooner. All good things. I'd also be living closer to my family and going to school with my sister - all super cool things! :) But I'm trying not to let that bias me too much ;)

Alan and I went out to dinner the other night and put together a plan for how/when to take the prereqs I need. I'm going to call the woman at Binghamton tomorrow to tell her my plan and see if it makes sense. It's tough because I'm trying to plan when to take classes but the schools don't have class schedules available, so I'm using last years schedules and hoping they are the same. It would suck to have my whole plan in place then find out the school isn't offering the course I need when I need it. I don't remember it being this hard the first time around :) Oh well. I'll figure it out. I keep looking at it as the first test. If I can't figure out how to get in then I probably should't be in :)

Thursday, November 10, 2005

Quote Of The Day

"You've got to replace the captain of your brain ship because he's drunk at the wheel." - Dr. Cox, Scrubs

Letter from Binghamton

So I got a letter from the woman at Binghamton yesterday. It's perfect and exactly what I've been bugging UNH for. I'm going to scan it and send it to the lady at UNH to see if they have the same thing :) Ms. Binghamton gave me a list of all prerequesites and all nursing courses. She then checked off everything I already have, so I can see what I still need. The intent of the form is to use as you go through school to make sure you don't miss any classes (unlikely, but whatever). More importantly, she gave me a list of the nursing courses required, broken into the semesters you take them. So I can see the three semesters of school and which courses I'd take and when. I find that very helpful. Since the course is accelerated (as is the UNH one), you don't really have much flexiblity in the coureses or time you take them. Anyway, I'm going to see if UNH can give me the same thing :)

I also found that I can take all of the prereqs at a local community college (Community College of Vermont), which is literally right next door to where I work. I was thrilled about this. But my excitement quickly turned to anxiety :/ Will I be able to work full-time and attend classes? I'm sure I can, but would that be fair to Alan and Lex? I don't want Lex to forget his mommy. Which is lame, I know, because that wouldn't happen, but still I worry. And even though I know he won't forget me, is it really fair to be away from him so long just for my own wants? As it is I only see him for a few hours a day. And Alan and I haven't been alone in many months (which is partly my fault because I hate leaving Lex since I see so little of him - it's a vicious circle)

I may talk to my boss about switching to a 4 day work week and taking classes the 5th. I think that would be ideal. Not sure what he'll think about it though :)

I'm still waiting to hear back from DHMC about the shadowing. This was the final week of their big review, so I'm hoping to hear back early next week. I've sent one or two follow up messages, but haven't heard anything in response.

Saturday, November 05, 2005

Been awhile

So its been awhile since I've posted here. I'm feeling kind of overwhelmed by the whole thing. I'm basically only looking at two schools, but I'm having trouble wrapping my brain around the various schedules, time frames, prereqs, etc. of each. It doesn't help that I only get sporadic moments here and there to focus on it. Tonight I asked Alan to watch Lex for awhile so I could try and get all of my notes together in once place. I started a spreadsheet to track things (when in doubt, make a spreadsheet ;) ). Sometimes I feel discouraged - like if I can't handle figuring out the process, how the hell will I handle going back to school. I don't remember it being this hard for an undergrad (though I think my mom did a lot of it for me).

Anyway, I guess right now I'm looking at an MSN from UNH or a BSN from SUNY Binghamton (yup, New York). A master's at UNH would have me graduating (earliest) in the spring of 2009. With a BS from SUNY B. I'd be out in spring of 2008. For both I have to figure out how to take 5 prerequisites, several of which are sequential. One option is to take one or two courses per semester at a local or online college, then move to wherever for the actual nursing program. This scares me a bit though, because I already feel very busy between work, life, and Lex, so I'm not confident I could handle taking courses in the evenings as well. Mabye I just need to suck it up and do it. Maybe I'd go insane though. The other option is to try and take as many courses as possible in the semester before the nursing program begins. That way I can keep working up until then, then move to wherever and take classes. The problem with this one is the sequential prereqs.

I find the website for UNH confusing (again, how the hell am I going to handle school??). They keep saying it's a 2 1/2 year program, which includes one summer. I'm guessing it doesn't include the other summer. But to start in January of 07 and graduate in May of 09, that's more than 2.5 years.... I must be missing something. I need a good visual aid :)

I'm going to visit Binghamton over Thanksgiving vacation. My sister (who has already applied there) has a friend in admissions so we're going to (hopefuly) get a private tour. That may be helpful. I may fall back on the family over vacation too to help me understand things :) Between my mom and my sister I'm sure I'll come out a little smarter.

For now, off to feed the boy. He's been awake and happy all day today. He must get tired sometime soon.